bulletin - Historic Santa Fe Foundation

BULLETIN
or
TH~ HISTORIC SANTA f'~ roUNDATION
Vol. 171No. 1
October 1989
GROSS, KELL Y & CO.
Near Depot
Santa Fe, New Mexico
1928
Santa Fe Railway Company Collections
in the Museum of New Mexico
Faith Meem Memorial
Everyone who has been a member
of The Historic Santa Fe Foundation
for any time was saddened by the
death of Faith Bemis Meem on March
23, 1989. She and her husband John,
who died in 1983, were such strong
supporters, and this in addition to the
many other organizations they helped
in numerous ways. Their efforts were
always quiet, sincere, and without
fanfare. That was the way they wanted
it.
Photo by: Laura Gilpin
Of the four properties which the
Foundation currently owns, three are
the direct result of Faith and John's
generosity.
In 1972 the Pinckney R. Tully
House was threatened withdemolition.
Mr. and Mrs. Meem made a major
contribution which was enhanced by
public support. The buildingwas saved
and the Foundation has taken pride in
its restoration.
After the death of Margretta
Dietrich in 1961, EI Zaguan was
purchased from her estate by a small
group interested in its preservation.
They formed EI Zaguan, Inc. Two of
the shareholders were Faith and John
Meem. Later they transferred their
stock to The HistoricSanta Foundation
and urged the others to do the same.
Except for ten shares which were
negotiated, the rest were given to the
Foundation and it became owner in
December, 1979.
John and Faith bought the Felipe
B. Delgado House in 1970 and John
took personal interest in its renovation.
I remember his telling me the
difficultyhe had locating just the right
paneling to match the existing
wainscoting already in the house. He
finally located a source in Oregon. In
1980 the Meems gave this beautiful
building to the Foundation.
The best way we, The Historic
Santa Fe Foundation, can honor the
memory of Faith Meem and her loving
husband John, is to continue to work
vigilantly and diligently towards the
preservation goals they espoused.
-Don D. Van Soelen
GRANTS AWARDED HONORING
JOHN GAW AND FAITH B. MEEM
In memory of Faith B. Meem, The
Historic Santa Fe Foundation has
donated $5,000 to the Museum of
New Mexico's new History Library on
Washington Street in Santa Fe. What
was once the city's public library is
being renovated and re-designed to
hold the Museum's extensive collection
of historical materials. The donation
will go toward installing new front
doors which willbe plaqued in Faith's
memory.
Earlier this year, the Foundation
donated $5,000 to the renovation of
the auditorium at the Laboratory of
Anthropology, another project of the
Museum. The large and beautifulroom
willbe known as the Meem Auditorium
and willbe available for meetings and
other gatherings.
Gross, Kelly and Company's
Santa Fe Warehouse
COVEBSTOBY
Kaw Valley canned vegetables;
nails, barbed wire, poultry netting, and
"Carey-ized" rock salt ("rain does not
affect it", cannot be trampled)"; Peet
Brothers "Crystal White" soaps;
Supreme Soda Crackers, biscuits,
dainties, and snaps from Merchants'
Biscuit; brooms and brushes from the
Southwestern
Broom Company;
exclusivelyground, turkey hard wheat,
high patented semolino flour from
Hays City, Kansas; Bass Island Grape
Juice; "Health Club" Soda and Baking
Powder from the Layton Pure Food
Company;
canned and bottled
delicacies from the Beech Nut Packing
Company-these
were but a few of
the products sold to regional merchants
from the Spanish-Pueblo-Revival-style
warehouse which Gross, Kelly and
Company erected in the Santa Fe
railroad yards in 1913.1
A list of merchandise such as this,
however extensive, could not convey
either the size or the import of a firm
whose roots in Southwestern
mercantilism stretch back to the
beginnings of railroad commerce; nor
could it suggest the landmark
significanceof the company's Santa Fe
warehouse in the formation of the
historic architectural style which has
come to dominate modern Santa Fe.
The year 1913 was pivotal for the
fledgling movement which has come
to be called the Spanish Pueblo
Revival. On the one hand, a NeoClassical-Revival-style bank had just
been constructed on the Plaza, (albeit
the last non-Pueblo-style building that
would be placed there); on the other
hand, the remodeling of the Palace of
the Governors, underway for several
years had just been completed in
1913. That recreation of a Spanishstyle facade was the first major accomplishment of the group led by artists and archaeologists who were
pressing a vigorous campaign to return
Santa Fe to a style of building based
Courtesy Museum of New Mexico
on
Northern
New
Mexico's
"indigenous" Spanish and Indian
prototypes, and thereby to reverse the
trend toward "Americanization" which
had gained momentum since the
coming of the railroad in 1880. In
1913 the New-Old Santa Fe style, as
it was called, was in the process of being defined. The Gross, Kelly and
Company Warehouse was one of the
earliest contributions to that definition
and an important demonstration of
the style's adaptability to modern life.
It is not known precisely what
influences led Harry Warren Kelly, the
president of Gross, Kelly and
Company to build the company's new
Santa Fe branch in the historic style.
Although primarily a businessman,
Kelly's own interest in the local Indian
Harry Warren Kelly
preceded the granting of New Mexico
statehood in 1912, he had become
aware of ferment over architecture
which was occupying the future state
capital. In speaking of the style when
the buildingwas announced, company
spokesman Clarence Iden echoed the
culture was evidenced by the large
collection of Indian art and artifacts
which he. amassed in his lifetime.2 No
doubt during the months he spent in
Santa Fe as a delegate to the
Constitutional Convention which
Courtesy Museum of New Mexico
concerns of the proponents of NewOld architecture who stressed not only
its historic appropriateness but also its
potential to attract visitorsand promote
badly needed economic development.
The style of the new building, Iden
said, would be in keeping with the
architecture of the oldest city in the
United States, and located so close to
the railroad tracks would be one of the
first to be seen when a stranger enters
the city.3 The architect Kelly chose,
Isaac Hamilton Rapp, of the Trinidad,
Colorado firm of Rapp and Rapp, was
not only widely experienced in using
the styles popular elsewhere in
America, but had already designed a
warehouse in the Pueblo Revival style.
In his nearly twenty years of
practice in the Southwest, Rapp had
become a leading architect in New
Mexico, having received such major
commissions as the New Mexico
Territorial Capitol and the Governor's
I. H. Rapp and W. M. Rapp - 1903
However significantarchitecturally,
the new Santa Fe branch was only the
latest development in the long history
of a company which at its height
claimed to be the largest wholesale
house in the Southwest. The firm
evolved
from the pioneering
forwarding and commission houses
Mansion, numerous courthouses and
other major civicand commerical projects (includingthe 1912 Neo-Classical
Revival bank on the Santa Fe Plaza),
which he executed in a variety of nonregional styles. In 1898 he had designed Gross-Kelly's Las Vegas headquarters in Neo-Classical style. Rapp
also had experienced the problems of
adapting a style from regional traditional sources to modern commercial
use when he designed the 1908 Colorado Supply Company Warehouse
in Morley, Colorado, the earliest example of the Spanish Pueblo Revival
style used for a commercial structure
not related to tourism.
Courtesy Museum of New Mexico
which set up business at the railheads
of the westward advancing railroad and
provided
a link between
rail
transportation
and the distant
merchants and consumers in the
regions of Colorado and New Mexico
still accessible only by wagon. As the
railroad was built across Kansas and
into Colorado and New Mexico, a
whole town was moved in its entirety
from one temporary terminus to the
next, and with it the commission
houses, their warehouses sawed into
sections and loaded onto flatcars to be
set up next to the tract in the next "instant town."
These commission and forwarding
companies served the important function of expediting the transfer of
eastern manufactured goods from
their point of arrival at the railhead to
their final destination and of effecting
their exchange for the raw materials
of the frontier. Charging a commission
whenever possible to both sides of a
transaction, the forwarding house
received and paid for the goods for the
purchaser, who might be hundreds of
miles of difficult travel from the
railhead, and arranged for freighting
to the final destination.4 Often instead of cash, raw goods were accepted in payment, such as livestock,
wool, furs, hides or pelts, which would
be sold to eastern manufacturers or in
some cases held in anticipation of a
more favorable market.
In 1867 Miguel Antonio Otero,
the father of the future New Mexico
Territorial governor, went into the
commission house business with John
Perry Sellar at Fort Harker, Kansas,
then the terminus of the Kansas and
Pacific Railroad. As the railroad came
west so did Otero, Sellar and Company, moving their warehouse to each
new railhead until the train reached
Las Vegas, New Mexico in 1879.
There, instead of moving on, the firm
established a permanent
headquarters. Two years later, Jacob
Gross, the cashier and manager for
Otero and Sellar, and two partners
reorganized the business as Gross,
Blackwell and Company. A year later
one of the partners was replaced by
twenty-four-year-old Harry Warren
Kellywho had joined Otero and Sellar
as a commission house boy nine years
earlier. The firm's headquarters remained at Las Vegas and branch
houses were opened and closed in
Courtesy Museum of New Mexico
other towns as business warranted. In
1902, following the retirement of Arthur M. Blackwell, Harry W. Kelly
became president of the company,
and the name was changed to Gross,
Kelly and Company.
As rail transportation moved into
once remote regions, merchants no
longer needed forwarding agents, and
Gross-Kelly'sbusiness gradually evolved into traditional wholesaling; nevertheless the company continued to play
a far-reaching role in the economic
development of the region. In the
absence of local banks, the company
issued draft books which could be used to draw on money kept on account. Even the Santa Fe Railroad
deposited funds against which payroll
checks were issued. Much of the company's business was conducted in
barter with goods accepted as payment. If the market were depressed,
these might be held in hope of better
prices in the future. In some instances
the company actively developed
markets for its customers' products.s
Thus was provided a continuous
outlet for local commodities such as
beans, wool, hides, pelts, livestock,
and timber. Markets were also created
for specialized local products such as
pinon nuts, pinon firewood, chile, and
after the opening of a branch in
Gallup, for Indian goods such as rugs
and jewelry. The marketing of pinon
nuts and chile turned out to be impractical because seasonal variations in the
size of crops precluded a dependable
supply sufficient to meet demand.
By 1906 Gross, Kelly and Company had become the largest business
of its type in the Southwest, with five
branches in New Mexico and one at
Trinidad, Colorado.6 In addition to
wholesale and retail merchandizing,
r" __ M
Ll ~11••
(",,,,'I
r.rn",,_RI~rkwp.lI
before it) engaged extensively in other
enterprises, such as lumbering and the
finishing of livestock through other
companies in which it held a controlling interest or with which it had an interlocking relationship. Its Jackson
Cattle Company had large ranch
holdings including a portion of the
former Preston Beck Grant acquired
from the Catrons. Lumbering activities
included ownership of large tracts of
timber land and the leasing of the
Maxwell Land Grant, probably the
largest tract of timber under one
management. The company supplied
the railroad with ties, bridge timbers
and planed wood for depots, bridges,
and car doors. Other timber lands included the Old Pecos Grant of about
30,000 acres within which was the site
of the ruined Pecos pueblo and mission church. The company's reach extended into Mexico when it furnished
ties to the Mexican Central Railroad
and subsequently acquired telephone
rights for the cities of Chihuahua and
Durango where telephone exchanges
were built and operated under a
separate company name.8
For Santa Fe the opening of a
Gross-Kelly branch was among the
first manifestations of the economic
benefits of statehood, so long anticipated. Having been bypassed in
1880 by the main line of the Atchison,
Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, Santa Fe had not been able to attract any
of the large wholesalers;
now
however, the Ilfeld Company soon
followed
Gross-KelIy
with a
warehouse in the railroad yard. The
presence of these two major competitors brought back to the city some
small measure of the role it had enjoyed as a hub of commerce in the
days of the Santa Fe Trailand had lost
to other towns more favored by the
7
principal railroad. 9
The town was not, however,
without any direct rail connection at
all. In 1887 Santa Fe merchants by
their own efforts had finally acquired
such a connection, although to a
lesser line, when they built a rail link
from Santa Fe to Espanola, the terminus of the narrow-guage Denver
and Rio Grande serving northern New
Mexico and Colorado north to
Denver. By 1903 a direct outlet to the
south had been achieved via a
standard-gauge line built south from
Santa Fe to Torrance where connections could be made to the southeast
and southwest.
In addition to supplying the needs
of the new state capital, Gross-Kelly
in Santa Fe provided goods to merchants along the routes of these northsouth railroads and took out the commodities of the region. The company
delivered by automobile delivery
wagon to its Santa Fe customers. To
reach the outlying areas merchandise
was shipped by rail to the relatively
large stores in towns along the
railroad, such as Espanola and
Chama. There merchants from outlying villages such as Nambe and
Chimayo, and the mountain villages
to the north which remained isolated
because of poor roads well into the era
of motor vehicles, would come to pick
up goods sold to them at a discount.
Later salesmen covered the area and
took orders which were delivered by
truck; even then there were times
when the roads were so bad that the
truck would have to use the railroad
bed.to
The Santa Fe branch of Gross,
Kelly and Company handled primarily
staple groceries, patent medicines,
light hardware, and farming supplies
all of which were sold to both
wholesale and retail customers in the
first years. After 1929 the company
discontinued retail sales to individuals
so as to avoid direct competition with
its commercial customers. Local pro<ducts, primarily wool, hides, pelts,
grain, potatoes and beans, and to a
more limitedextent regional specialties
like pifion nuts and chile, were bought
from local producers large and small.
Many of the local people kept just a
few animals. At shearing time they
would bring in their wool in sacks large
and small. When a cow was
slaughtered the fresh, green hide
could be brought to Gross-Kelly, and
after being inspected would be spread
out on a salted pile on the loading
dock next to the railroad siding on the
west side of the building. Throughout
the summer heat the pile would grow
and so too the stench in these days
before government regulators or local
sensibilities might object. 11
Whatever the commercial impact
of the opening of a Gross-Kellybranch
in Santa Fe on July 7, 1913, it was
its architecture which elicited the
strongest immediate response. "Second to none" the newspaper thought
the building and called it "almost too
beautiful for a wholesale house," a
building whose "Spanish mission
style" would be "an ornament to any
section of the city."12 In his design architect Rapp provided the first on-theground illustration of the Old-New advocates' contention that "indigenous"
style and modern materials should be
combined to create an architecture
which would have the appearance of
the old, but could meet contemporary
commercial requirements.
Constructed of brick, the warehouse had a complete concreted basement and was fireproof throughout.
There was a section for offices at the
front but the greater part of the interior
space was a large open room where
goods were stored. Metal sash, wire
glass windows and two sets of heavy
iron doors assured that the building
was practically burglar proof as well.
It was equipped with two sets of builtin scales, an elevator, and one steel
inclined unloading chute. Loading
docks ran the length of both sides of
the building and five railroad cars
could be unloaded at the same time
from the track which ran beside it. 13
The design of the warehouse with
its flat roof, parapet, projecting canales
and viga ends, battered walls, and
portals supported by posts and corbels
(elements which have become the
commonplaces of Santa Fe's mandated architecture), was adapted from
the Indian pueblo and Colonial
Spanish architecture which had persisted in New Mexico with littlechange
for 250 years before the American
takeover of 1846. The overall form
and design of the warehouse was
taken from the mission churches
which the Spanish friars induced the
Pueblo Indians to build using their
locally traditional building materialmud, shaped into bricks as the
Spanish taught them, and their traditional techniques of roof construction
to create a large, open interior space
previously unknown in the pueblos.
Somewhat incongruously, the
form of the mission church was not
unsuited to a warehouse stretching
along a railroad track. Both were long
rectangular buildings oriented along
the long axis with an emphasis on the
main facade; both enclose what is
essentially a large, long open space
without many windows. The symmetrical facade of Rapp's design with
its side towers was inspired by such
mission churches as San Felipe and
Acoma. The portal between the
towers occupies the place of the
balcony found on some churces but is
an idea taken from Spanish domestic
architecture. The long portals supported by posts and corbels which provided covered loading docks along the
length of each side of the building
were derived perhaps from the long
portals fronting Spanish Colonial
structures facing public areas such as
the Plaza. However, this modern
commercial structure constructed of
modern materials has more windows
on the main facade than its Spanish
antecedents, and the viga ends protruding from three sides are merely
decorative; the battering is concrete
formed to simulate the contours of
adobe, and the open bell towers are
two sided at the top and empty.
Rapp continued to develop the
possibilitiesof the Pueblo Revival style
in Santa Fe. He returned to the
Spanish missions of northern New
Mexico for the building he designed to
represent New Mexico at the Panama
California Exposition in San Diego in
1915, a design which was recreated
with some modifications in the heart
of Santa Fe for the Museum of Fine
Arts dedicated in 1917. After producing such other milestones in the
development of the Pueblo Revival
style as the two buildings for Sunmount Sanatorium (1914, 1920) and
La Fonda Hotel (1920), Rapp ended
his professional career in 1920, just as
the Revival movement was reaching
its stride, leaving it to others to make
it the ubiquitous presence it is in Santa Fe today.
Gross, Kelly and Company prospered in Santa Fe, and twice needed to increase the size of its
warehouse. First an extension was
added at the rear built of brick and
Gross, Kelly & Co. Warehouse - 1988
penitentiary tile in the same style as
the original but with a lower roof line.
In the early 1950s the building was
again extended to the south with the
addition of a metal unit.
Nevertheless, after World War II
the company found it increasingly difficult to compete in a changed
business climate. With improved
transportation, shoppers could come to
central outlets in the bigger towns.
Large supermarket chains came in
which did their own wholesaling. In
1954 all of the assets of Gross, Kelly
and Company, but not the name,
were sold to the Kimbell Company of
Fort Worth, Texas for a little more
than 1.5 million dollars.
Used as a warehouse with front offices until 1983, the building has
undergone little alteration. Under the
front portal the original symmetry has
been lost with the replacement of one
of two doors by a window, and two
of four original metal windows have
Photographer: Corinne P. Sze
been replaced by wooden windows.
On the east side of the building, the
loading dock was enclosed by the
original owners, on the west all but a
small portion has been enclosed by the
present owners.
On the interior, wood plank floors,
exposed brick walls, and the five
skylights which originally lit the
warehouse are still in place. The present owners have installed lightingand
heating, and have added partitions in
the back of the office section and in
the warehouse itself. The original
warehouse has been divided into two
large spaces and the firstaddition closed off from it and divided into three
spaces.
Finally, no discussion of the importance of this building would be
complete without mention of Daniel
T. Kelly Sr.'s tireless efforts in Santa
Fe on behalf of organizations
dedicated to the understanding of
New Mexico's historic cultures and the
cause of historic preservation in northern New Mexico, and the promotion
of the Pueblo Revival style. Preferring
to remain in Trinidad, Colorado, Kelly
had at first refused the opportunity his
father, Harry Kelly, offered him to
learn the grocery business at the new
branch in Santa Fe. However, his inital reluctance was overcome, and he
came to Santa Fe as a salesman in
1919. His involvement in local archaeological concerns began almost
immediately when in 1920 he participated in his father's decision to
deed about eighty acres of land containing the ruins of the Pecos pueblo
and mission church to the Archbishop
at Santa Fe who was then to transfer
it to the School of American Research
for research purposes.14
Kelly who became manager of the
Santa Fe branch in 1929, president of
the company in 1939, and chairman
of the board in the early 1950s, served as a board member, an officer, or
a trustee of the Museum of New Mexico Board of Regents, the Laboratory
of Anthropology, the Indian Arts
Gross, Kelly & Co. Warehouse 1988
Fund, the Archaeological Society of
New Mexico, and the Archaeological
Institute of America. Gross, Kelly and
Company contributed materials and
funds to further the work of the Society for the Preservation and Restoration
of New Mexico Mission Churches and
Kelly was one of the incorporators of
the society. Although he apparently
was not involved in the choice of style
for the company's warehouse in 1913,
he was a member of the city planning
commission which presented Santa
Fe's first historic zoning ordinance.
At this writing the fate of Gross,
Kelly and Company's Santa Fe
warehouse is uncertain. The railroad
yards are up for sale and it is not
known what willbe done with this last
significant parcel of undeveloped property in downtown Santa Fe.
Rapp's 1908 Pueblo Revival
warehouse in Morley, Colorado is
gone. The Gross-Kellybuilding is thus
not only the firstcommercial structure
of its type in the Spanish Pueblo
Revival style built in New Mexico, but
the earliest known extant example
Photographer: Corinne P. Sze
anywhere. It is to be hoped that it will
remain without substantial alteration in
a suitable setting to stand as a testament to the role of Gross, Kelly and
Company in the history of commerce
in the Southwest and the commercial
development of Santa Fe; to the
pioneering architectural work of Isaac
Hamilton Rapp in the style that has
become so closely identified with Santa Fe; and the contributions of Daniel
T. Kelly, Sr. to historic preservation.
-
Prepared by: Dr. Corinne P. Sze
NOTES
lAs advertised to their customers' customers in the Santa Fe New
Mexican, October 8, 1915,
2 This collection was given by his son, Daniel Thomas Kelly. to
the Museum of New Mexico. Daniel Thomas Kelly. Jr.. personal
communication.
Santa Fe New Mexican. March 25, 1913.
4 Kelly, Buffalo Head, p.9.
5 Kelly, "Frontier Merchants",
p. 9-10.
6 Kelly, Buffalo Head, p. 69.
7 Kelly, Buffalo Head, p. 267 provides a list of related companies.
8 Kelly, "Frontier Merchants", p. 11-12; Buffalo Head, p. 61.
9 Twitchell, p. 470.
3
lOOanielT. Kelly, Jr., Ben Ortega. Personal communication.
llJohn Hillyer, Ben Ortega. Personal communication.
12Santa Fe New Mexican. July 8, 1913.
'3Ibid.
14Kelly, Buffalo Head p. 207.
Soan:_
Kelly, Daniel T. The Buffalo Head: A Century of Mercantile
Pioneering in the Southwest.
Santa Fe: The Vergara Publishing
Company,
1972.
Kelly Daniel T. "Frontier Merchants: A Briel Sketch
Kelly and Company,"
EI Palacio, 65 (1958): 7-15.
Otero, Miguel Antonio. My Ufe on the Frontier, 1864-1882.
York: Press of the Pioneers, 1935.
Santa Fe New Mexican. March 25,
We welcollle aU our new
lIIelllbers lor J 989 and invite
any 01 you wbo are not yet
lIIelllbers to Join us in our
various eIIorts to preserve
bistoric Santa Fe.
of Gross,
1913,
New
July 8, 1913.
Sheppard, Carl D. Oeator of the Santa Fe Style: Isaac Hamilton
Rapp, Architect. Albuquerque:
University of New Mexico Press,
1988.
Twitchell, Ralph
Mexico's Ancient
1925.
Emerson. Old Santa Fe: The Story of New
Capital. Chicago: The Rio Grande Press Inc.,
Wilson, Christopher.
"The Spanish Pueblo Revival Defined,
1904-1921". New Mexico Studies in the Fine Arts, 7 (1982):
24-30.
Inteviews
5/23/89;
with Daniel T. Kelly, Jr.,
and Ben Ortega 5/25/89.
5/23/89;
John
Hillyer,
1989
John and Faith Meem Scholarship
The ninth annual John and Faith
Meem Scholarship prize was awarded
to Shari Cook, a 1989 graduate of St.
Catherine's Indian School. Shari is the
daughter of Richard and Lorraine
Cook of Santa Fe, and was selected
by her school counselor for the award.
Shari willbe continuing her education
at The College of Santa Fe where she
will major in Communication Arts,
The award serves to acknowledge
and encourage the exemplary personal
attributes typified by the Meems and
their many years of community service,
notably in the area of historic
preservation.
WHY PRESERVE?
At a time when our attention is
turned to legal sharp-shooting to help
preserve endangered species of our
historic structures, it is possible to
become so engrossed in detail that we
run a real risk of losing sight of what
it is that we are trying to achieve in the
first place. Why. seek to conserve
historic resources at all?
First, we seek to preserve because
our historic resources are all that
physically link us to our past. Some
portion of that patrimony must be
preserved if we are to recognize who
we are, how we became so and, most
important, how we differ from others
of our species. Archives and
photographs and books are not
sufficientto impart the warmth and life
of a physical heritage. The shadow
simply does not capture the essence of
the object.
Second, we strive to save our
historic and architectural heritage
simply because we have lived with it
and it has become part of us. The
presence of our physical past creates
expectations and anticipations that are
important parts of our daily lives. We
tend to replace them only when they
no longer have meaning, when other
needs are more pressing, and we do
so only with caution, understanding
how our environment creates us, as
well as how we create
our
environment.
Third, we save our physical
heritage partly because we live in an
age of frightening communication and
other technological abilities, as well as
in an era of increasing cultural homogeneity. In such a situation we subconsciously reach out for an opportunity
to maintain difference and uniqueness.
Fourth, we preserve historic sites
and structures because of their relation
to past events, eras, movements and
persons that we feel are important to
honor and understand. Preservation of
many structures and sites is an
outgrowth of our respect for the past,
which created our today; in making
them accessiblewe are sometimes able
to have the past live for us as it cannot
when viewed as a printed page or a
piece of celluloid. Nostalgia and
patriotism are important human
emotions for preservation,
and
important human emotions must be
served. But the important point is that
the historic associations inherent in
preserved structures and sites should
encourage much more than mere
nostalgia and patriotism. They are
potential sources of imagination and
creativityin our attempts to understand
and appreciate the past-a past distant
from us, but a time that can still offer
much to guide us.
Fifth, we seek to preserve the
architecture and landscapes of the past
simply because of their intrinsic value
as art. These structures and areas were
designed by some of America's greatest
artists. They are as important to our
artistic heritage as our decorative arts,
our painting and sculpture. Ifwe accept
the philosophy of architect Walter
Gropius, we should give greater
consideration to the preservation of
architecture than to that of other artistic
objects because,
in his view,
architecture is a synthesis and
culmination of artisticendeavor and the
supreme
medium
of human
expression. We cannot prove such an
opinion, of course, but the thought
does express the importance of
architecture to our artistic tradition. If
we were to value historic structures as
we honor other works of art, much
wanton destructionmight be prevented.
Sixth, we seek to preserve our past
because we believe in the right of our
cities and countryside to be beautiful.
Here, with much regret, we must
recognize the essential tawdryness of
much contemporary design and
construction. Much of it is junk; it
assaults our senses. We seek to
preserve the past, not only because it
is unique, exceptional, architecturally
significantor historicallyimportant, but
also because in most cases what
replaces it will be inhuman and
grotesque. Potentially, of course, many
old buildings could be demolished and
replaced with contemporary structures
of equal functional or aesthetic value.
Yet, recent experience has shown that
this is not likely, and until it is we shall
preserve our past in order to preserve
what is leftof our pleasing and humane
urban and rural landscape.
Finally, and most important of all,
we seek to preserve because we have
discovered-all
too belatedly-that
preservation can serve an important
human and social purpose in our
society. Ancestor worship and aesthetic
motivations are no longer enough; our
traditional concern with great events,
great people and great architects will
not serve society in any full measure.
The problem now is to acknowledge that historic conservation is but
one aspect of the much largerproblem,
baSically an environmental one, of
enhancing, or perhaps providing for
the first time, a quality of human life.
Especially is this so for that growing
number of people who struggle daily
to justify an increasingly dismal
existence in a rapidly deteriorating
urban environment. No one needs to
be reminded that our cities are falling
apart. If preservation is not to fall into
the trap of total irrelevance, we must
learn to look beyond our traditional
preoccupation with architecture and
history, to break out of our traditionally
elitist intellectual and aesthetic mold
and to turn our preservation energies
to a broader and more constructive
social purpose. We must look beyond
the problems of saving architectural
artifacts and begin to think about how
we can conserve urban neighborhoods
for human purposes. Thisis particularly
urgent at a time when some special
interest and ethnic groups, in an effort
to discover their o~n heritages, have
begun to isolate themselves even
more, rejecting the notion of a
common heritage for all Americans
and substituting a new emphasis on
social differences and social conflicts.
Success in preservation in this day and
age requires that we give as much of
our attention to such problems as
bathrooms, kitchens, schools, garbage
collection, employment and racial
conflict as we have traditionally given
to architecture and history. The
importance of our nostalgic, patriotic
and intellectual impulses cannot be
denied, but they are no longer a wholly
sufficient motivation for what we are
about.
Basically, it is the saving of people
and lives and cities-not
just
buildings-that are important to all of
us. We have before us an unparalleled
opportunity, if we are sufficiently
determined, to contribute significantly
to the upgrading of the quality of
human existence. If we can achieve
this, to some extent at least, the
architecture and the history willfallinto
place.
-Robert E. Stipe
• Reprinted from Preservation News, July 1972,
at 5, eol. 2.
PRES£RVADON
PlAN ON IT
Planning on restoring a house,
saving a landmark, reviving your
neighborhood?
Write:
National Trust for Historic Preservation
Department PA
1785 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036
"Respectful Rehabilitation Answers To Your Questions
About Old Buildings"
The HSFFofficeat 545 Canyon
Road is constantly acquiring
new books and materials that
may be of interest to our
members. Following is an
excerpt from "Bespectful
BelJabilltation - Answers to
Your Que.tlon. About Old
BuDding ••••
- The Preservation Press Nat1
Trust for Hist. Pres. 1982.
I own an old adobe house in
NewMexicothat dates fromthe
1890s. The exterior portion of
severalof the wigasis beginning
to rot. I. there. w.y to repair
these lop, or _lISt I replace
the. widaa•••••• 1
..
...
-,-:. ....
':
~ .-.~
Exterior projecting vigas are
structural and design elements intrinsic
to the character of historic adobe
buildings; thus, every effort should be
made to preserve them as original
features. If the deterioration process is
not arrested quickly, the decay may
spread through the logs, and the
structurally unsound vigas may cause
partial or total collapse of the roof.
It may be possible to stabilize the
vigas (ifthey have not deteriorated too
much), using a wood epoxy compound. Epoxy can be applied to the
vigas to fillin any cracks and voids in
the wood. The hardened epoxy can be
sanded or planed down in the shape
of the viga and can then be painted.
You will probably want to hire an
expert to carry out the work.
Of course, if some of the vigas
have deteriorated too much, they may
have to be partially or totally replaced
with new wood. Do not replace the
vigas with false projections. It is almost
impossible to attach false vigas
securely; hence, the solution they
provide is not only a temporary one
but also a potentially dangerous one,
because vigas are often used as
support in gaining access to the roof.
I recently
purchased
an
abandoned lOO-year-old adobe
church that I plan to restore.
Some sections of the waDs are
in need of repair. Should I go to
the expense of casting new
"traditional" adobe brick, or is
it appropriate to replace these
sections
with
the
new
"stabWzed" adobe brick seDing
throughout the Southwest?
Stabilized adobe (adobe brick that
has been mixed with cement, asphalt
or bituminous materials to make it
water resistant) has been a boon to the
new adobe construction industry in the
Southwest. For this purpose its
usefulness is unrivaled.
However, using stabilizedadobe in
this case is not advisable because of the
peculiar characteristics of adobe.
Adobe is, in the truest sense, organicit is made from clay, sand, straw and
grass, and is one of the oldest and most
common building materials known. It
is also inherently dynamic, like the soil
from which it is made, and expands
and contracts in proportion to its
moisture content. Even in the arid
Southwest there is substantial water
from humidity, rainfall and high water
tables. Adobe walls can expand and
contract several inches in just a matter
of days. Such flexibilityis a normal
characteristicof the historicmaterial but
not of stabilized adobe.
For this reason stabilizedadobe will
prove incompatible with the fabric of
the old wall. The old wall will expand
and contract within the normal cycle of
the material; the stabilized adobe will
not. In effect, part of the wall will be
moving and part willnot. The resulting
tension and twistingwillproduce cracks
or bulges in the wall. In some serious
cases, the wall could collapse.
"SOMETIMES
YOU WIN ONE"
A new wing added to an old house
must come off, says the New York
State Supreme Court, which has
ordered James Kennedy to remove a
large structure he wrapped around his
1868 house in Tarrytown's Grove
Street Historic District. Climaxing a
long-running
dispute
between
Kennedy and neighbors, village
officials and the Historical Society of
the Tarrytowns over modifications he
has made to his property, the ruling by
Acting Justice John Carey is
considered to be nationally significant
for the preservation movement. "There
have been very few instances where a
court willactually roll back the clock to
order a building restored to what it
was," says Nicholas Robinson, law
Emergency
Acquisition
Fund Created
The Historic Santa Fe Foundation
Board of Directors recently voted to
establish the "Emergency Acquisition
Fund," to create a cash reserve should
the need arise to purchase a property
to insure its preservation. From now
on, contributions
other
than
professor at Pace University and a
trustee of the society. Kennedy actually
had obtained a permit from the village
for the addition, but it later was
invalidated after villagers protested.
Neighbors Herbert and Gladys
Osterman are suing the village for
issuing the permit and for not properly
enforcing the preservation law against
other changes to the house and its
setting Kennedy has made over the
years. Kennedy is appealing the court
order.
- From Preservation News
membership dues received by the
Foundation will be divided equally
between the EAF and debt reduction
on mortgaged properties.
The ongoing costs of preserving
the four properties we own are high.
Several thousands of dollars was
recently spent on a major electrical
project at EI Zaguan, and the general
maintenance of the buildings and
surrounding gardens is endless. Help
rebuild our reserves by making a
contribution to the Foundation today.
We're So Lucky
To Live In
Santa Fe
The Foundation
has received
evaluations, letters and drawings from
teachers and students who have used
the book in their classrooms. We
would like to share with you some
drawings made by fourth grade
students in Marjorie M. Lux's class at
Gonzales Elementary School.
The Benjamin Read House, 309 Read St.
We want to bring to your attention the condition of this historic property.
The Read house is significant because of its architectural style and integrity
and because it was the home for many years of Benjamin M. Read, a prominent
New Mexican citizen. It is listed in the NM State Register of Cultural Properties.
Board of Directors
1989
Tenn
Executive
1524
Camino
Sierra
Address
-87501
-87504-0756
983-9511
(W)
1334
Pacheco
St.,
982-8690
756,
SF
1991
988-1885
988-7349
1989P.O.
1247
(1)11,
Cerro
986-1752
983-2994
983-8256
2145,
Gordo
Rd.,
Rt.
503
Johnson
983-4060
983-6966
455-3177
988-3548
Box
85-A,
Ln.,
(H)
SF
SF
(2)
983-2070
fW)
983-4592
Telephone
902,
827-8320
988-9646
2325,
1990
Box
983-5605
2535,
87504
Ending1325
Don
Gaspar,
SFVista
127
Lupita
Rd.,
SF
545
1103
1107
Canyon
Canyon
Rd.
Rd.,
#3,
87501
983-2567 (H)
1042
Stagecoach
Rd.,
SFSF 983-6792
Board
of
Directors
meets
the
4th
Thursday
of
the
month
unless
otherwise
notified.
ARGE:
Dr. 31
Mary
Ann indicated.
Anders302 Calle Lorna Norte, SF
cember
of year
1989 Commercial Members
Newandrenewedmembe~,we
thank you for your support!
Adobe Corporation
Alley Properties
American Burglar & Fire Alarm
The Ater-Rance Co.
Blatt Pollock Rentals
Burlington Resources
Cafe Pasqual
Casita de Los Cornell
Catron, Catron & Sawtehl
The Chile Shop, Inc.
Coldwell Banker Trails West
Cooper's Inc.
Cutlery of Santa Fe, Ltd.
Dale F. Zinn & Assoc., Archs.
Decor/Spain
Dee's Restaurant
Dewey Galleries
DeWindt/Henry & Assoc.
EI Paradero
EI Rey Inn
Eldordo Hotel
The Rower Garden
Framecrafters
Gerber, Gramer & Ahem
Hansen Galery
Inn at Loretto Inn of the Governors
James H. Russell Agency
Kaune's Foodtown
La Fonda
La Fonda Newstand
La Tertulia Restaurant
Linda Durham Gallery
Melanie Peters
& Assoc.
Montgomery & Andrews, P.A.
The New Mexican
New Mexico Business Consultants
New Mexico School for the Deaf
The Palace Restaurant
The Pink Adobe
Plaza Ore House
Preston House
Pueblo Bonito B & B
Rio Grande River Tours
Robert Woods Construction, Inc.
Running Ridge Gallery
Ruth Johnson & Assoc.
Santa Fe Glass & Mirror
The Santa Fean Magazine
Schepps/NM Development Corp.
Sign of the Pampered Maiden
Southwest Hospitality Mgmt.
Southwest Spanish Craftsmen
Streets of Taos Gallery
Sun Country Traders
Sunset House
Sunwest Bank of Santa Fe
Tiny's
Tymar
Upper
Wadle
Restaurant
Oil Co.
Crust Pizza
Galleries
White, Koch & Kelly
White Swan Laundry
William Field Design
The Wool Palace, Ltd.